Arriving in Glasgow

Greetings from Glasgow! Today is Monday and it feels like our first normal-ish day here.

We arrived Saturday afternoon after a red-eye from JFK via Iceland. We had a very bumpy flight across the Atlantic and landed in Iceland exhausted and bleary-eyed. We only had an hour-long layover, but man the airport architecture is very cool and the scenery from the plane was gorgeous. Definitely want to make a visit there at some point to actually see the country. 

The fight to Glasgow was pretty quick and we also got some great views upon landing. First stop was our airbnb which is super sweet and actually bigger than expected! We have a nice kitchen, lots of light, a large entryway, and even an extra bed which we weren't expecting in the office. Come visit -- you'll get your own room! Text me for a video tour of the apartment if we haven't sent it to ya yet :)

We were super tired but pushed ourselves to stay awake and adjust to local time. We walked over to a small grocery store and stocked up on some essentials. The walk took us by some University of Glasgow dorms (everyone looks sooo young and gen z) and a cute little bridge/river/biking path that we def need to return to and explore.

cute lil welcome sign at our airbnb in the kitchen. I am co.

Anyways, I'm clearly still adjusting to how to write a blog because I find myself just writing an exact play by play but, that's what we got for now! When we got back we did unpacking, our first little load of laundry (love love love in unit laundry, it is a dream), and made some dinner.

Oh and Tori also struggled to ward off scammers in her attempts to score tickets to Chappell Roan's concert tomorrow... sadly she couldn't find any :((( but thanks to me she did not get scammed!

Saturday night we discussed waking up at 9am on Sunday to force ourselves to get over our jet lag as soon as possible. We set an alarm. And then I woke up... at 2:20pm?

Turns out Tori heard the alarm, I didn't, she rolled over and fell back asleep, woke up at some point later in the morning and decided to not wake me up.

Anyway we got out of the apartment at like 4:30pm and managed to figure out how to take a bus to the most downtown/central/not sure what they call it here area of the city -- Merchant City area. After three buses drove right past us we learned that just waiting at a bus stop is not enough for the bus to stop there -- you have to give them a little wave and let them know you want to get on. Who knew!? Luckily we could easily buy bus tickets via tap to pay. And it was our first time riding a double decker bus :))

We got Mexican food -- it was pretty good! And we understood our waiter's accent! Double win. Then we walked over to the concert venue to see if there were any scalpers selling last minute tix. Sadly there were not. 

(^The many emotions of desperately trying to get tickets... jk there was no joy involved and I made Tori smile for the pic.) 

Anyways by the time we finished up our futile attempt at the venue we were hungry again and made our way to a delicious pasta place for a second dinner. I guess our standards are skewed coming from NYC but I couldn't get over how much more affordable the food was.

After that we walked around a bit more, found a dessert place, scoped out some queer bars in attempts to make friends but were unsuccessful. We passed by George Square (shoutout to Tori's dad) and hopped back on the bus to our place.

Which brings us to today! Tori found a gym that's a 25 mins walk away and we signed up for a yoga class. Kind of a YMCA equivalent kinda place. Class was okay, not sure we'll actually join since it wasn't the most pleasant walk and the class was kind of meh and felt mostly geared towards senior citizens. Also the class times don't work great with Tori's work schedule (roughly 12-8pm local time, so looking for more morning class availability). We found some other fitness spots we'll check out, so hopefully more luck soon.

Walked back and Tori started work while I made lunch and opened up my laptop for some to-do items including writing this here blog! Now that I've gotten the details out of the way, I will say -- how do we feel? Terrified and excited at the same time! I know Tori and I are both going through different emotions so I'll speak mostly for myself here. Terrified isn't really accurate haha. I honestly feel really happy to be here -- it's exciting to be in a new place and Glasgow feels different enough that it's fun and novel but not too different that it feels exhausting just to navigate small things like taking a bus or speaking to a waiter (same language, the help of technology/maps for navigation, having all of my basic needs met with no real differences in utilities, etc). Tori adds that the normalcy of jaywalking also helps her feel at home. 

That being said, what's on my mind the most (aside from wtf am I doing for work both in the short and long term which fills up 80% of my brain) is how can we meet people? Even though we are super lucky to have each other and could be content just existing as the two of us for quite some time, I do know that community and friendships will be so essential for my wellbeing and sustainability here. I'm already attempting to download Lex (for the straights among us, that's an app for queer community building) and emailed the Avodah alumni listserv to ask for connections. So far I got a rec for a synagogue in Edinburgh and someone saying that their third cousins who are in their 40s with kids live here. That's a start...!?

I also know that it'll be important for me to have something to get me out of the house and engaging in community. I want to look up places to volunteer -- maybe a garden? And figure out my fitness schedule -- like a gym, yoga studio, could potentially be a place to meet people. Plus Tori's also done some research and already found me a running club that meets three times a week that I want to go to on Thursday evening, and a queer bookstore that has a book club and events. She also found a women's soccer (sorry, football) game to go to on Sunday and a farmers market for us on Saturday. And her coworker has a connection in the city who she will introduce us to! 

It's a weird feeling of knowing we'll be here for a little while but also not that long at all. Which does feel kind of freeing? We are here officially until mid November which is when our airbnb is up but if we like it, we may stay longer. Who knows. I'm kind of telling myself that it'll be longer just cus it has been nice so far to actually start getting settled somewhere with the mindset of staying put for a bit after our summer of constant travel. So we'll see how it goes. I think meeting people could be a big part of what keeps us here for a month or two more (max 6 months per visa rules). 

So, looking forward to... all of those events/activities I mentioned, walking around the river and exploring the park that is supposedly right near our apt according to google maps but whose direction we have yet to walk in, actually unpacking our clothes, maybe having a real conversation with another person soon! 

Scared of... what I am actually doing with my time, making decisions/commitments re: life and career and finding a way to make money when I don't have a work visa and when I will be moving around a bunch! Figuring all this adult shit out! Not resenting Tori for having an actual schedule and coworker connections and people who need her and value her outside of me! And also it's been a whole month and a half since I've actually worked so wtf is a job anyway.

Alright, thanks for listening/reading (but also it's weird to imagine anyone reading this), I'm not totally sure where I'm going with this blog or who the audience is but it is nice to get things written down and to mark time in this way. Happy Monday!